The public voted for change at the general election. Perhaps nowhere more than when it comes to energy. Every person and business has paid the price of our country’s energy insecurity. As Vladimir Putin sought to use energy as a weapon in his illegal invasion of Ukraine, bills went through the roof in a cost of living crisis unprecedented in modern times.

As the Climate Change Committee (CCC) recently made clear, there is one obvious answer to preventing us being so exposed again – a sprint for homegrown clean energy. As it said in its progress report to parliament last week: “British-based renewable energy is the cheapest and fastest way to reduce vulnerability to volatile global fossil-fuel markets. The faster we get off fossil fuels, the more secure we become.”

Britain was left horribly exposed by years of underinvestment in its own supply and an overdependence on fossil fuels. With energy bills due to rise again in the autumn, according to independent forecasts, because of fossil-fuel prices, the challenges we face have not passed. The only way to protect ourselves as a country for the long term is to deliver cleaner, cheap, homegrown energy – boosting our energy independence, creating jobs and tackling the........

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